Chapter 6: Becoming A Hunter

Yan Xiu ran toward the village exit after he left the Lu family's house. The head hunter was a highly organized person, and it shows in his leadership. The hunters always went hunting at fixed times. They went out at the middle of the day and came back before dark.

The hunters gathered at the village exit before each hunting, to do briefing and last check. Yan Xiu hastened his pace. He knew that the head hunter values punctuality, he didn't want to give the head hunter a bad first impression by being late.

There were five men before the village exit, the head hunter stood upright with his hand on his back. A black unadorned spear hanged on his back. In his sides were two senior hunters, one had a bow on his back while the other had two daggers on his waist. The two youths in front of them with one of them carriyng an axe and the other had a saber.

After Yan Xiu got closer, he saw that the head hunter and the senior hunters wore a black colored leather armor. The two youths were just using normal clothes.

The two youths face were tense and serious. They stood straight with their hands on their back.

Yan Xiu reached them. He then bowed in greetings to the head hunter and senior hunters.

" Head hunter and senior hunters, I apologise for being late." (MC)

The head hunter had Sharp eyebrows like that of a sword, long flowing raven hair with few white hairs. Muscular body, masculine face with strict air like that of a teacher. Yan Xiu's eyes glittered when he saw the spear on the head hunter's back let out pulses of wild qi. A spirit weapon! Shouted Yan Xiu inwardly.

The head hunter, Xiao Musheng, opened his eyes briefly to saw Yan Xiu before closing his eye again after nodding at him.

The other two senior hunters were surprised when they saw Yan Xiu. Their teacher did say there would be a new trainee today and he was boy.

They thought it was a teen, since to their teacher even they were still can be called boys. But to think that the new trainee was truly a boy. They really didn't expect this.

They looked at their teacher. Seeing that their teacher closed his eyes, they turned to Yan Xiu and nodded before closing their eyes. Since the teacher didn't want to explain, they wouldn't ask.

Yan Xiu didn't bothered, he knew that the head hunter was a man of few words and so did his student. Yan Xiu turned and bowed at ther two youths.

The two youths were just as bewildered as the two senior hunters. To think that the new addition was a boy truly suprised them. When they returned to normal, they smiled and let Yan Xiu stood between them.

The three of them chatted and grew close. The two youths told Yan Xiu the rule and what to watch out for. Toward such a cute boy, the two youths felt the need to protect him. They also wanted to show off a little.

After the three chatted for a while, Xiao Musheng opened his eyes. He looked up briefly before speaking.

" Qi Refining second stage. How long have you started cultivating? " (XM)

" 8 months. " (MC)

Yan Xiu's answer startled everyone. Xiao Musheng only surprised briefly before calming down, while the others were still shocked.

The two senior hunters and two youths were staring at Yan Xiu like they saw a ghost. All the cultivators in the village only had low level cultivation technique to train. They also lacked pills and resources to boost their cultivation.

If they wanted to have a better cultivation technique, they would have to join a sect. Even a small sect have better cultivation technique, resources, and cultivating environment than the village. Not to mention the big sects. Thus, the speed of cultivating between a villager than a sect disciple was vastly different.

And yet, despite all that, Yan Xiu was able to reached second stage of Qi refinement in only 8 months. Normally, it would take 2 year or more for a villager to reach the same stage as Yan Xiu.

A genius. The word appeared on the four peoples minds. Yan Xiu's speed of cultivating was that of a genius. Maybe it was normal or even slow for a sect cultivator, but for a loose cultivator it was heaven-defying.

Yan Xiu didn't realised his own achievement. He was too focused on raising his crops and livestock. Lu Hao had tried to explained it to Yan Xiu, but he was always distracted by good food and forgot about it.

Seeing Yan Xiu's confused expression to their surprised looks, the four people wanted to explained to Yan Xiu. But they were cut by Xiao Musheng.

Chen Hanchen bowed as he acknowledged his task, Yan Xiu also bowed. Xiao Musheng nodded and left with the rest. After they left, Chen Hanchen brought Yan Xiu to the head hunter's house which double as the village's hunters house.

It was a big two story wooden house with bones decoration. Most of house was made with wood and some of it was made with bones. There was also a thropy of skull of beast hanged on top of the entrance. The bones and skulls gave the house a wild and savage look.

Yan Xiu looked around in marvel, Chen Hanchen smiled proudly when he saw Yan Xiu. The two of them walked to the back of the house. There was a big field with beasts dummy dolls, target practice range and weapon shed at the back of the house.

The two stood before the weapon shed. Yan Xiu looked around before standing at attention when Chen Hanchen cough.

" Well, first let me congratulate you for becoming an apprentice hunter. I think you already know the rules from the juniors but let me say it once more. One, never act alone. Two, cooperate with each other. Three, listen to your leader. Four, never abandon or betray your fellow hunter. Any violator will be punished. Do you understand? " (CH)

" Good. Next I'm going to teach you about hunting roles. There 4 roles, Tank, Attacker, Disruptor, and Support. The tank is the one that taunt the beast and take the most damage in the team, he make sure that no attack make it past him and hit the other teammates. The one who take this role is one who had confidence in their defence.

The attacker is the one doing most of the damage. They only need to do one thing and one thing only, attacking the beast to death. Only someone with great offence can fill this role.

The support is the most crucial role in the team, they're the one who keep the team alive. Only one who can use healing spell can fill this role. Currently, there are only two support in the team.

Last but not least, the disruptor. I am one of them, our job is like our name, to disrupt the beast. When the beast want to attack or run, our job is to disrupt that. We also weaken the enemy with poison or spells. Other than that, we helped attack the enemy. We need someone with good observation ability. Do you get all of that? " (CH)

" Yes! " (MC)

" Very good. If you forgot later, you can ask your senior or looked up on the hunter guide at the record room. Now, let's go and pick your weapon. Picking a suitable weapon is crucial for a hunter. " (CH)

Said Chen Hanchen as he opened the door of the weapon shed. Inside was numerous weapons, some were hanged on the wall, some placed on the table, and some inside a barrel. Yan Xiu's glittering eyes grew dim when he saw that all the weapons were a normal weapon.

He thought there would be a spirit weapon like the head hunter's. Chen Hanchen laughed when he saw Yan Xiu.

" Sorry to dissapoint you, but there is only two spirit weapon in the whole village. One of it was the head hunter's and the other is owned by his son. " (CH)

Seen through by Chen Hanchen, Yan Xiu could only laugh awkwardly. Every newbie though like Yan Xiu when they saw the head hunter's spirit weapon.